The present invention relates to a bag mounted with casters, and especially to a bag having a handle that can move up and down. The bag of the present description is used in the broad meaning of suitcases and attache cases.
Bags provided with casters and a freely extensible handle have already been developed and widely used. There are many bags of this structure which are sized to allow the bag to be boarded on planes or the bag may be of a somewhat larger size. On very large bags, the handle is directly fixed to the bag so as to allow easy movement thereof. Then, the small bags are mounted with a freely extensible handle that is pulled up in order to allow the bag to be easily moved. For example, bags of this structure have been mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,487; Japanese Patent Publication 4-76686 issued Dec. 4, 1992; Japanese non-examined Utility Model Publication No. 57-179824 issued Nov. 15, 1982 and Japanese non-examined Utility Model Publication No. 63-131634 issued Aug. 29, 1988. The bags mentioned in these publications are provided with two casters 1 mounted on one side of a bottom face of the bags as shown in FIG. 1. A pair of short legs 2 are fixed on the opposite side of the bottom face with respect to the casters 1. When the bag is in a vertical orientation, the casters 1 and the legs 2 are in contact with the floor. In this condition, because the legs 2 do not turn and are in contact with the floor, the bag can stand upright without moving. Further, an extensible handle 3 is provided at an upper face of the bag to allow the bag to be pulled. The casters 1 are mounted on the same side of the bag as the handle because the bag is pulled while in a slanted or a tilted orientation.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bag can be moved when it is tilted and pulled by the handle 3. When the bag is tilted, the casters 1 remain in contact with the floor and the legs 2 leave the floor. When the handle 3 is pulled in this condition, the casters 1 turn thereby making the bag easy to move. However, with the bags that move in this fashion, the casters 1 cannot sometimes be used in narrow places such as in the inside of a plane cabin or in a crowded area. When the bag is moved with the casters 1, the widest dimension of the bag is oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel. Therefore, the bag cannot be moved freely in the aisles between the seats in the cabin of a plane, or in crowded areas. When the casters 1 cannot be used, it is necessary to lift the bag and to carry it by hand. When the bag is lifted up and carried by hand, it is then possible to move the bag in the direction shown by arrow A in FIG. 1.
The bag mounted with casters has a convenient structure which allows heavy bags to be moved easily. This is because even if the bag is heavy, it can be pulled easily while rolling on the casters. In order to solve the drawbacks of the prior art, the present inventor has developed the bag structure shown in FIG. 2. The bag shown in FIG. 2 has casters 21 fixed at the bottom face of bag body 24. To allow the bag body 24 to stand by itself in an upright position, the casters 21 are mounted at the four corners of the bottom face, respectively. A grip 23A of a handle 23 is located at the middle between the right and left sides of the upper face of the bag body 24. In contrast to the bag shown in FIG. 1, the bag shown in FIG. 2 can be moved with tilting the bag body. As shown by the arrow in the FIG. 2, the bag is moved while standing in a vertical position. When it is moved in the direction shown by the arrow, it can be moved with a narrow width of the bag body oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel. For this reason, the bag shown in FIG. 2 has the advantage that it can be conveniently moved in plane cabins or crowded areas. Furthermore, the bag can be freely moved in any direction by using free casters, which swiveling in any direction, for the four casters 21. Also, the upright bag does not transmit the bag weight to the handle 23. Therefore, even a fairly heavy bag can be easily pushed and moved.
The bag shown in FIG. 2 can be lightly and easily moved on its four casters by pushing the grip of the handle. However, with a bag of this structure it is necessary to place the grip of the handle at the middle of the bag body, i.e. between the right and the left sides of the bag body. As shown in FIG. 3, if a grip 33A is fixed to one side of the bag body 34 having free swiveling casters, the bag will move and turn when it is pushed as shown by the arrow in FIG. 3. Therefore, when the grip 33A is fixed to one side of a bag mounted with free swiveling casters 31, the grip 33A has to be firmly held in order to move the bag in a straight forward direction. This is because bags that tend to turn, are moved while strongly holding the grip 33A in order to correct the direction of movement. Therefore, the drawback of the bag of FIG. 3 is that the bag cannot be easily moved while lightly holding the grip 33A.
As shown in the cross sectional view of FIG. 4, with the bag mounted with the handle at the middle of the upper face of the bag body, it is necessary to fix extensible rods 25 of the handle 23 to the inside of the bag body 24. To place the grip 23A at the middle between the right and left sides of the bag body 24, the extensible rods 25 are fixed by penetrating through the middle between the right and left sides that is to say the direction of the thickness of the bag body 24. With a bag of this structure, the extensible rods 25 will make efficient use of the inside of the bag body 24 difficult. To solve as much as possible the problems associated with the extensible rods 25, the present inventor has provided a partition panel 26 in the bag body 24 and thus has invented a bag with the extensible rods 25 fixed to this partition panel 26. The bag is designed to open on both sides so as to allow items to be placed in the bag on both sides of the partition 26. In the bag of FIG. 4, the partition panel 26 reinforces the bag body 24 and also divides the bag body into two compartments thereby making the bag more convenient. However, the drawback of having the extensible rods 25 hindering inside the bag body 24 is still not solved. Especially, the drawback of the bag body 24 becoming shallower, thus preventing the placement of thick items therein, cannot be solved.
The present invention has been developed with the aim of solving these drawbacks, and an important object of the present invention is to provide a bag mounted with casters and having the extensible rods mounted in a position where they will not hinder efficient placement of items inside the bag body, even when the grip is mounted between the right and left sides of the bag body.